


Cù Sìth

by panther



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Founders, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-08-19
Packaged: 2018-02-13 20:33:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2164245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panther/pseuds/panther
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They say Rowena is dying from a broken heart but really she has an illness no one has seen before. Her friends try frantically to save her but Rowena accepts her fate and wonders how she will be remembered.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cù Sìth

They say that she is slowly dying of a broken heart and Rowena lets them because it is better than the truth. She is dying from a disease she has never seen before, a disease no books speak of, and despite being with the most gifted of her people they cannot find a cure. They cannot even find a name. Godric has searched Europe for answers and Helga has attempted to create new medicines but nothing works. In fact, some of Helga's efforts have actually made Rowena feel worse. She grows weaker and her hair thins as her skin pales. Helga insists it is not cancer but something else but that offers no comfort. They wouldn't be able to cure cancer either. For the safety of the children she is locked away in her rooms and that only fuels the rumours of a broken heart. No one wants to say that she is ill and cause a panic among the students. So many are unsure of being at the school in the first place. Salazar's leaving has caused a rift among the children and their uncertainty of one another breeds fear. Rowena doesn't want to add to that. Plague, the one they call the Black Death, has so far remained with the Muggles but the children hear of it. Many have been orphaned by it and the walks they used to take in the country have banned just in case. 

Rowena often sits under a pile of blankets and stares out of the window while twirling her wand in her fingers. Only the retreating snow and then the small signs of greenery reappearing make her aware of the passing weeks. Maybe if she still had the diadem she would be able to find something to save herself. The problem is that as each day passes she is not sure she is all that fussed about surviving. The children are important to her but they are not her child. Helena is lost to her and what use is she going to be trying to hold the school together when she couldn't even hold together her own family? 

"You have to keep thinking positively, Rowena. We have sent out more letters and something may come from them." Helga insists when she brings Rowena her dinner. 

"It is one thing to understand what is wrong and another thing entirely to fix it. I know you have all tried and I love you for it but-"

"But nothing, Rowena."

"Helga, you need to accept I'm dying." Rowena says softly as she places her wand on the table and picks up a fork. "I keep it on me at all times but I can hardly summon a robe these days. It is never a good sign when the magic starts to fade."

Helga busies herself with turning Rowena's mattress and Rowena pretends she doesn't hear the sniff and the sob or notice her friend's red eyes when she takes a seat next to her. 

"I won't give up on you, Rowena. I just won't. That is something _you_ have to accept. We discover new stars and new spells and potions every day. It is perfectly logical to think we might find the answer we need in time. We might not but we're certainly not giving up. We've proven you're not contagious but someone else could still fall ill at another time. Godric-"

"Godric should leave medicine to you and get on with his hat project. Helga, you won' t have failed if you can't heal me. You can't save everyone."

Helga flinches slightly and then sinks deeper into her chair with a sigh. " I know that but usually when I lose a patient I know what to. He does still work on the hat, you know. He took it all across Europe and so when he was in a carriage he would poke and prod it. He is lucky none of the Muggles saw him. Oh, it will be wonderful to leave a sure way of sorting students for after we've all left. I think the system helps them bond together. I mean, some of them can hardly understand what the others are saying so it is good to have that binding."

"As long as it does not turn into rivalry of a sour kind. I worry about the Slytherins without Salazar to guide them. They feel misplaced."

"We don't treat them any differently."

"No, but the students are becoming more aware of why he left the school. I fear they will close ranks, or worse agree with him, but there is nothing I can do about that now. I can only hope for the best. Perhaps when we have more students we will see things improving again." Rowena states calmly. " I do miss going to find the new students and bring them to the school. Yes, I will rather miss that over the summer."

She doesn't say that summer seems an impossibly long way off. Making it that far would be a feat even if Helga is in such denial. Rowena continues to eat her meal in silence as her friend tidies up her room and adds logs to the fire and then Helga leaves to check on the children and make sure they are all in their common rooms. Rowena pours herself a cup of water and sighs at the way her hands tremble. It won't be long now before she can't leave her bed and then it just won't be long until the end. Godric needs to finish the hat. It has the base of each founder in it but the enchantment is not complete and soon there will only be two founders left to chose students for themselves. On several occasions she has considered writing to Salazar but he would never return to the school and she is too weak to leave so it seems pointless. There is no reason to upset him. Instead she writes letters for her will and hopes that Helga will make sure that he gets his. 

A cold breeze drifts through the window so she spells the curtains shut and she is pleasantly surprised that it only takes her the one attempt. The cold air reminds her of her childhood. She settles in her armchair and lets her eyes shut as she remembers running through fields of heather, scratching her knees on thistles, and stinging her palms on nettles. There was always a cold breeze and the distant roar of the sea. Life was hard but she would have loved to have stayed there and grown old. Magic has given her a different life than she ever imagined but it took the one she dreamed of. A pyre and flames would welcome her home now. Hogwarts is her home now and while she hopes people will remember her for the house she founded and the spells she created and not the daughter she drove away but either way she won't be forgotten and that is certainly a dream for a little croft girl.


End file.
